Krewe of NOMTOC helping keep Mardi Gras alive in Algiers

The Krewe of NOMTOC gave Algiers the parade it had waited for on March 1, as its long line of floats traveled along Mardi Gras Boulevard, Newton Street and L. B. Landry Avenue.

Only two krewes roll in Algiers now: NOMTOC, and Adonis, which also rolled in Terrytown.

James Henderson Jr., president of the Jugs Social Club, characterized this as a “return to form.” Previous rain events hurt their ridership: a complete rain-out in 2011 and a rain that relocated them to the east bank in 2012. Last year, ridership was down to 380 riders. Now, they are back up to 500.

Leonard Hillard Jr., this year’s king, is a local small businessman still remembered for his heroics on the L. B. Landry High School football team, and this year’s queen, Jasmine Roussell, recently graduated from Tulane. Both were dressed elaborately in gold, black and white.

The Jugs Social Club puts on the NOMTOC parade. As a Carnival organization, it began in 1951, but hadn’t received a parade permit until 1969, when members formed the Krewe of NOMTOC. The acronym NOMTOC stands for New Orleans Most Talked Of Club.

A forest of chairs, tents and pickup trucks had established itself along both sides of the Mardi Gras Boulevard by 9:15 a.m., hours before the parade could be expected. Grill smoke drifted over the asphalt into the vents of passing cars.

NOMTOC had gotten the bad luck out of the way early. Any event of this size will struggle against some inertial drag. In this case, one of the limos picking up the royal court wrecked on the way, and one of the limos delivering them to the floats got a flat.

By the time they arrived to the staging area at Holiday Drive and Fiesta Street, the crowd was ready. Floats lined Holiday Drive for blocks, and Fiesta Street, from Holiday Drive to St. Nick Street, resonated with the honks and bleats of band members warming their instruments. Speakers boomed over majorettes and drill teams waiting for their places in the lineup.

Helena Mitchell lives where NOMTOC stages itself, and when asked if she minded the inconvenience, she said, “No. I get people from out of town. They love it.” She pointed to her dog Tromen, a puff of fur with a nose in the middle the size of a pencil eraser. “He loves it too!” she said.

From one parade float, an excited Trinity Barnes yelled, “the AC Krewe is going to be turned up!” as behind her, fellow riders shouted agreement. This was Barnes' first time riding in a new float helmed by the first-year AC Krewe. Participants like her demonstrated the resurgence of which club president Henderson spoke.

And the crowd seemed bigger. Perhaps it was the fear of being stranded on the east bank by the ferry, as many were the previous night. But the crowds along the route were noticeably denser.

Even at the tag end of the route, on Newton Street, this proved true. For the past nine years, the Greater Providence Baptist Church has sold hot plates to parade watchers there. Fried chicken and red beans, hot dogs and cold drinks. According to church member Mildred Tropez, the church wanted to “provide a safe place to come and share and enjoy the parade.”

“Everybody prepares for the parade and everybody loves it and looks forward to it,” Tropez said. Any money the church make goes towards their Sunday school department. But the point to opening the church’s doors and restrooms is that “we’re all one big family in Algiers.”

Later, when it was all over, when the families and fellow revelers had drifted home, plenty of evidence of the parade remained.

There was the smell of manure around the empty horse trailers in the Winn Dixie parking lot where they parade had begun, and there were the beads piled at the curbs, abandoned by older celebrants who adhered to the rule that the beads aren’t got if they aren’t caught.

Kiwanis Club of Algiers

The speaker for the March 13 meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Algiers will be Eva Marie Werner, manager of Dyna-Play. The club meets on Thursday mornings from 7 to 8 at Aurora Swim and Tennis Club at 5244 Gen. Meyer Ave.

The Algiers Historical Society

On March 15, from 10 a.m. to noon,Tonja Koob and Jennifer Snape will give a presentation on the history of the Huey P. Long Bridge. Join the Algiers Historical Society at the Algiers Regional Library, 3014 Holiday Drive, in the first-floor meeting room. Coffee and refreshments will be served.